Chapter 4: The Desolate Temple

Chapter 4: Chapter 4: The Desolate Temple Under the intense distortion and impact, Hu Ma still obediently followed the little girl in the red dress home for dinner. His numb brain had completely sobered up under the severe shock. Everything he saw utterly destroyed his rationality, yet left him powerless to question it. The sky had already darkened, and an oil lamp was lit in the small cottage. Granny was waiting for him by the square table. The meal in this humble little cottage was surprisingly sumptuous. Hu Ma was out of breath from running and still in a daze from the frightening things he had encountered. He wasn’t sure how long he had been on the run. All he saw on the square table was a dish of pickles, two bowls of porridge, and a plate of meat cut into neat squares. So, Hu Ma obediently sat on the left side of the square table, and Granny sat at the head. Little Hongtang was now squatting on a roof beam, peering down. The lamplight flickered, making the shadows dance. Outside the cottage, in the gloom, something always seemed to be peeking in. Granny didn’t speak, just ate her meal in silence. She only touched the pickles in her dish. Little Hongtang, perched on the beam, also remained silent, merely blinking as she watched Hu Ma sitting by the square table. The atmosphere was eerily oppressive. Hu Ma finally couldn’t bear it any longer and carefully broke the silence: "What... what exactly are those things?" Granny and Little Hongtang, who was playing on the beam, both turned to look at him. The atmosphere in the room seemed to grow even more oppressive. "Evil spirit," Granny slowly spoke into the silence. "Once darkness falls, those things all come out." She added, "You’re too injured. You’ve forgotten the rule about not going out at night." "I..." Hu Ma began, his voice barely a whisper. Hearing her explanation didn’t help; in fact, it made his skin crawl even more. He trailed off, unsure what else to ask. "No need to be so afraid." Granny glanced at him and spoke slowly again, "You’ve only just recovered. Your body is weak, so encountering an evil spirit is normal." "As long as you listen to Granny and eat more meat, you’ll gradually get better." "Eat meat?" Hu Ma could only look again at the platter with the square-cut meat. It turned out the piece Little Hongtang had eaten was gone; this piece seemed to be freshly cooked. But even if freshly cooked, it carried a chilling aura. The grease on it had already congealed, reflecting a strange white under the oil lamp, sitting cold and solitary on the plate. Previously, he had been force-fed many times but still couldn’t figure out what kind of meat it was. He was certain it wasn’t pork, beef, or, of course, human meat. It wasn’t any kind of meat he had ever eaten before. Additionally, the shape of this meat always reminded him of the sacrificial meat offered to the dead in his past life. The revulsion in his heart made it difficult to pick up his chopsticks, but Granny put down her own and looked at him with a haunting gaze: "You don’t trust Granny?" Hu Ma met her eyes, a jolt of alarm in his heart. "I trust you!" He took a deep breath, pulled the plate directly in front of him, lowered his head, and began to gnaw at the meat. Based on previous experience, being force-fed meat was always followed by indescribable torture. Escape was impossible, so at least having food in his stomach might help him endure it. He chewed the slimy meat and forced it down. A sense of fullness gradually spread through his famished body. Perhaps it was an illusion, but as soon as the meat entered his stomach, it seemed to begin digesting immediately. It was as if the pieces of meat came alive after entering his stomach. They wriggled within him, seeping into his organs and blood, repairing his body. The peculiar sensation invigorated him; even the wounds on his shoulders felt lighter. Granny watched him eat every last bit of the meat, her expression seeming to soften slightly. She said slowly, "Good child. After eating, go back to your room and rest early." "If you need to relieve yourself during the night, use the base of the wall. Don’t go outside, and don’t look out. Those things are still out there!" "Tomorrow, Granny will take you to the old fire pit to pay respects to our ancestors, and then everything will be fine." "Things?" Hu Ma actually had many more questions he wanted to ask. He vaguely remembered excruciating torture awaiting him every night, scenes akin to descending into hell. But tonight, was he really just going to be allowed to sleep? He wanted to ask for clarification, but when he met Granny’s face, hidden in the shadows cast by the oil lamp, he instinctively shrank back. He snuck a glance outside the door and saw only pitch darkness. There wasn’t even a glimmer of moonlight; it was so dark you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face. It was as if even the light from the oil lamp inside the cottage was being squeezed, growing fainter. The thick, viscous darkness outside seemed to hide countless bizarre entities, staring at him with eerie, sinister eyes. Before he knew it, a layer of cold sweat had soaked his back. He quickly and obediently cleared his bowl and chopsticks and slipped into the adjacent side room. The room was narrow, containing only a wooden plank bed and a quilt that seemed to have been freshly made up—thick, cold, and hard. He didn’t dare to sleep. Hiding in the dark, cramped side room, he strained his ears, his attention entirely focused on the main room. Outside, Granny’s murmured chanting began—faint and elusive, mysterious and obscure. CREAK, CREAK... Besides the chanting, another strange sound mingled with it. Peeking through the crack in the door, he saw Little Hongtang gnawing on some kind of bone. The unease in Hu Ma’s heart swelled to its peak. Hugging the quilt, he silently tapped his head. After such a fright, his mind was noticeably clearer than before. The dizzy spells seemed to be gradually fading. But aside from the horror, his mind was now filled with endless doubts and suspicions. So, I’ve been reincarnated into the body of this young man, also named Hu Ma? That sinister Granny’s grandson was harmed by his enemies. She tried to summon his soul back, but did she inadvertently summon me instead? And all that torment and torture before... was that really a form of treatment? But the crucial part is... she still thinks I’m her grandson who’s just woken up with no memories. She has no idea I’m not him at all... It was all too absurd and bizarre, difficult to believe in an instant. But having witnessed the grotesque and fantastical nature of this world, it felt as if anything, no matter how strange, could be plausible. He had a strong desire to understand all these things, but right now, he lacked even the courage to glance out the window. It felt as if the night itself held him prisoner on this small wooden plank bed. In such a world, Hu Ma initially didn’t dare to sleep. Perhaps it was because he had run for so long with a weakened body that day, leading to mental fatigue. Or perhaps Granny’s chanting and Little Hongtang’s gnawing had a strangely hypnotic effect. He stayed alert for only a short while before muddled thoughts overtook him, and he unwittingly drifted off to sleep. In a haze, he seemed to arrive at a dark, profound place, surrounded by a dark red mist. His body quietly pushed through the mist as he walked forward, then he suddenly paused. Ahead, an old, shabby platform had appeared. On it sat a dilapidated incense burner, and behind it lay a vast expanse of darkness. He vaguely saw the shadow of a Divine Statue in the darkness, but it was indistinct. Hu Ma instinctively took a few steps forward, his footsteps making no sound in the void. As he approached the platform, he realized it looked like an incense table from a temple. In fact, the entire space resembled an abandoned temple, dilapidated and seemingly devoid of incense for countless years. The offering plates on the incense table were all empty. In the incense burner, only half a censer full of settled ash remained, cold and silent. It had clearly not seen incense for a very long time. Oddly, though, next to the incense burner lay half an incense stick, red and about the length of his little finger. It looked brand new and exuded a familiar aura. Hu Ma stood before the incense burner for an unknown length of time, a faint stirring in his heart. Driven by some nameless impulse, he instinctively picked up the half stick of red incense, gently placed it into the incense burner, and slowly withdrew his hand. SSS... The moment the incense stick was placed in the burner, it inexplicably ignited. That faint, dark red glow seemed to breathe a sliver of life into the desolate, decaying space. Wisps of smoke curled upwards, drifting like slender, ethereal serpents into the surrounding emptiness. Hu Ma realized something and held his breath slightly. He quietly watched the smoke disperse, a feeling that something was about to happen. But the incense simply continued to burn quietly, though it seemed to consume itself a bit faster than ordinary incense. He watched until the stick was almost fully consumed, yet still, nothing happened. However, just as he let out a slight sigh of relief, feeling his tension was perhaps unfounded, he suddenly saw the drifting incense smoke stiffen as if it were a physical object, extending deep into the dark red mist. This clearly impossible phenomenon made Hu Ma hold his breath. In the next instant, a voice abruptly rang out: "Code name Er Guotou calling Reincarnator on Old Yin Mountain. Is anyone receiving?" "This..." The unexpected words sent a shock through Hu Ma’s mind, causing him to stagger backward, his body trembling. He looked in the direction the voice had come from, too stunned to respond. Just then, an icy sensation gripped his ankle. A strange feeling rushed through his entire body. Hu Ma snapped awake. He found himself lying on the narrow wooden plank bed. The little girl in the red dress was grasping his ankle with her cold little hand, her eyes, unnaturally bright, stared fixedly at him. As if shocked by electricity, he reacted instantly, snatching his ankle back: "What are you doing?" "Such a coward." Little Hongtang glanced at him and said with a grin, "Brother Huma, you’re up! Granny is taking us to the old fire pit!" "Old fire pit?" Hu Ma turned his head in confusion, noticing the morning light streaming through the small window above. Day had dawned.